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This week in personnel announcements and new hires, NASAA announced that Andrea Seidt is its new president, Stephanie Zaffos joined Convergent Wealth Advisors, Scivantage welcomed Jim Toussignant, and the SEC announced three staff promotions.

Also, U.S. Bank announced a promotion and a new hire, NAMIC welcomed John Hair to its Washington office, and Greg Smith joined Lincoln Financial Advisors.

Ohio Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt to Lead NASAA

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced Tuesday that Ohio Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt has begun a one-year term as president. It also announced the new board of directors, including William Beatty, president-elect, of Washington; Heather Abshure, past president, Arkansas; Melanie Lubin, Maryland; Joseph Borg, Alabama; Douglas Brown, Manitoba; Michael Rothman, Minnesota; and Judith Shaw, Maine.

For the past year, Seidt has served as NASAA’s vice president and chair of the investment advisor section. Previously, she served as a member of the board of directors and played an integral role in the switch of 2,100 investment advisors from federal to state oversight as mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. She has served as Ohio’s securities commissioner since 2008. Prior to her appointment as commissioner, she served as deputy chief counsel for the office of the Ohio attorney general, where she worked on investor and consumer protection litigation. She served as lead counsel for the office’s subprime lending investigations and coordinated Ohio’s efforts with other attorney general offices across the country.

Convergent Wealth Advisors today announced the addition of Stephanie Zaffos, J.D., to the team as director of trust and estate planning. In her new role, she will serve as the firm’s estate planning expert, supporting ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Zaffos’ knowledge of estate and trust planning spans nearly 15 years, having practiced at such firms as Venable, Proskauer Rose, and Katten Muchin Rosenman. She is a member of the California state bar.

Scivantage Appoints Jim Tousignant

Scivantage has announced the appointment of Jim Tousignant as executive vice president of sales and business development. He will be based in Jersey City, N.J., and report directly to Adnane Charchour, CEO.

Tousignant has more than three decades of entrepreneurial and senior management experience in the financial services and technology sectors. He was cofounder and president of Multex, and has also held senior positions at Thomson Financial, where he was a managing director responsible for global sales, and Morgan Stanley, where he served as EVP, business development and e-commerce.

SEC Announces 3 Promotions

The SEC has announced two promotions to senior positions in its Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA); Scott Bauguess has been named deputy director, and Vanessa Countryman will become chief counsel. In addition, it announced the appointment of Karen Martinez as director of the Salt Lake regional office.

DERA’s two deputy director positions assist the chief economist with the overall management of the division. Dr. Bauguess, who has been an assistant director for DERA’s office of corporate finance since 2011, will focus on overseeing the division’s risk assessment functions in his new role. He also will be involved in the division’s policy and rulemaking support activities, working closely together with DERA’s other deputy director, Jennifer Marietta-Westberg. He replaces Kathleen Hanley, who recently returned to academia.

Bauguess joined the SEC staff in 2007 as a visiting academic scholar in the office of economic analysis, and became a senior financial economist in 2009 prior to becoming an assistant director two years later. Before coming to the SEC, he was an assistant professor at Texas Tech University. Since 2009, he has taught in the masters of finance program as an adjunct member of the faculty at the George Washington University School of Business.

Countryman has been the deputy chief counsel in DERA since February 2012. In her heightened role, she will provide advice and guidance to staff within DERA and across the agency regarding the legal aspects of integrating economic analysis and data analytics into the SEC’s work, particularly rulemaking and policy development. She also will advise the chief economist and other division staff on legal issues implicated by the division’s broad mandate.

She began working at the SEC in July 2010 as a counsel to Commissioner Kathleen Casey. She later was a counsel to Commissioner Daniel Gallagher before joining DERA. Prior to the SEC, she worked at the law firm Gibson Dunn and represented clients in a variety of appellate and administrative matters. Earlier, she clerked for Judge Emilio Garza on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Martinez will oversee both enforcement and examinations in the Salt Lake office. She joined the SEC staff in 2002 as trial counsel in the Salt Lake office, and became assistant director in 2010. Since then, she has since supervised the office’s enforcement program. She also has supervised some investigations in the SEC’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) specialized unit, which focuses on cases involving bribery of foreign officials, in addition to numerous others. As trial counsel, Msshe successfully litigated cases involving insider trading, FCPA violations, and violations of Regulation S-P.

Before joining the SEC staff, Martinez was in private practice. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Christine Durham of the Utah Supreme Court.

U.S. Bank announced Monday that Bryan Benedict has been promoted to private banking managing director for the Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank in Minneapolis, and Kane Phillips has been hired as wealth management consultant for the Private Client Reserve in Seattle.

In his new role, Benedict will lead led a team of private bankers serving the needs of high-net-worth individuals and their families. He brings several years of experience as a private banker with the Private Client Reserve. Previously, he was a commercial banker with Excel Bank and a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Phillips will work to create effective connections among prospective and existing clients within the Puget Sound region. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial service industry. Prior to joining, he was market director for Washington Wealth Management. He has also held positions with Charles Schwab and Co., and Smith Barney.
NAMIC Adds John Hair to Washington Office

John Hair, a veteran lobbyist with nearly eight years of experience, is joining the Washington, D.C., office of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) as its newest federal affairs director. He will focus on helping the industry pass a reauthorization of the Terrorism Reinsurance Insurance Act, and fighting to prevent any rollbacks in the recent reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program.

Hair comes to NAMIC from the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, where he served as director of government relations. He also previously worked at Carrying Capacity Network and at the Florida-based law firm Aylstock, Witkin & Sasser.

Lincoln Financial Advisors Appoints Greg Smith Managing Principal

Lincoln Financial Network, the retail sales and financial planning affiliate of Lincoln Financial Group, announced that Greg Smith has been appointed managing principal of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp. (LFA), serving as market leader in the Minneapolis area. He will report to Mike May, managing director of LFA’s midwest regional planning group, which includes the Minneapolis regional offices.

Smith brings more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining, he served as senior vice president and channel head at several firms including Crump Life Insurance Services in Schaumberg, Ill., Sun Life Financial in Boston, ING in Minneapolis and Lincoln Financial Distributors in Philadelphia.

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